Vending machines have traditionally accepted coins and occasionally bank notes in payment for the goods or service they dispense. The popularity of credit cards, debit cards and more recently, cash cards, also referred to as smart cards, has conditioned the purchasing public to use of the convenient so-called plastic money. Carrying a wallet-size card is, indeed, much more convenient than carrying a pocketful of change.
Cellular phones coupled with various forms of wireless communication including so-called Bluetooth technology further expand the spectrum of cashless payment methods soon to be readily available to the general public.
The instant invention results from an attempt to apply these new payment technologies to the operation of automatic vending machines.